Juggling Life & Horses

Posted by admin on 13 May, 2019

Wasn't it wonderful seeing Piggy French win her first Badminton title and also the gratitude she gave to 'her guys' at home and everyone for helping her achieve this goal? In an interview with The Telegraph she also talked about the support of her partner Tom and also how becoming a mother last year has helped her to refocus.

As a mother competing myself (admittedly not at Badminton but still at intermediate level eventing) some years ago, I found my children a real distraction. At one competition I remember being distracted by them as I entered the show jumping ring and taking a pole down at the first fence as I told them to stop swinging on the ropes. At another event, my mother had travelled a long way to see me compete. As I entered the cross-country start box, my daughter wanted to go to the loo so mum missed it all!! I could go back through my results and see distinctly when I had the children at events and when I didn't! It's a real-life skill to be able to juggle work and family commitments with looking after our horses, let alone training and competing them!!

Our team are also competitive riders. Both Helen and Lara regularly compete, managing to juggle long hours at work with success in the competition arena. As many of you are aware, we always endeavour to work around your diaries and commitments, putting the customer first. Our phones are mostly on and any holidays take meticulous planning!

Whether it's children, family commitments, work or even nerves, as riders we all have our own personal struggles, be it physical or mental. We have to understand our customer's lifestyles in order to do the best job for both horse and rider. For example, tension shortens your legs, sitting at a desk doesn’t help your core develop and driving can affect your symmetry - so the better we get to know you the more we can help with the original fitting and moving forward after delivery as you and your horse develop.

With Spring here and summer coming we are lucky to get out and see lots of our customers compete – this helps us understand the affect competing has on the rider and the horse. Obviously, not all customers compete but through chatting about their riding when we see them we can make sure we understand their worries and concerns.

From this blog you’ll quickly see that whatever we are doing, team work, organisation and communication are central to everyone and everything – free time rider to Olympian.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can do it all on your own – its lonely and hard work – besides – laughter and celebration are so much more fun – and it makes your legs longer!!!!

It's your passion for doing what you love that drives you, and we feel the same! Maybe those of you who successfully juggle family, work and competing your horses should get in touch and share your tips and stories with the rest of us? You can drop us a line HERE and the best ones we'll share on social media!